It's a harsh world out there
by epicknight23
Summary: A smurf wakes up in the forest with unknown origins. He cannot remember anything. Who is he, and what has he done? Notes: A. The first 2 chapters are in a different pov, and are much shorter and weaker than recent chapters. This is my first story ever so please don't judge me for obvious mistakes. B. I plan for this to be a long series; so rewrites of current work is possible.
1. New beginnings

**Alright, before we begin, I want to list a few important things. Firstly I want to mention that I worked hard to write, rewrite, and edit this and further stories. Feedback and criticism is greatly appreciated so that I can make better works later. Next, I want to say that this is my first story BUT please start reading before judging and leaving. I believe my story has a possibility to be something special, if I put in the time. Finally, the smurfs belong to Peyo, not to me, but the only character in this chapter does belong to me. Hope you enjoy!**

"Ugh" I groaned as I opened my eyes. I tried to sit up, but I felt so weak. I quickly realized that I was looking up at some trees but the trees seemed so big. Everything did… It was strange. Looking to my left and right, I saw I was in the middle of some kind of wreckage. I seemed to be fine, no broken bones, but pretty beaten up. Then I tried to remember how I had gotten here.

 _Where am I? What am I doing here?_

As I tried to remember, my mind came back blank. As I tried to remember what I was doing before, my mind came blank. As I tried to remember who I was, there was nothing.

"Okay, okay. I'll be fine. Chances are somebody'll be looking for me. Everybody has a friend." I quickly said. It was a chance, a hope that maybe I could figure out who I was. But even so, I couldn't even remember my own name!

"Oh god, my head" I groaned as I put my hand against my temple. I noticed two things very quickly when I put my hand in front of my face. Firstly, my hand had a few splotches of blood on it. Secondly, my hand was blue and had four fingers. For some reason, the latter really bothered me. I had no idea what life should look like, but I felt like an alien being blue.

With more strength, I sat up and got a better look of my surroundings. I had a white hat on and a matching pair of trousers, but they looked torn up and muddied. I had no shirt on, and instead saw cuts and scratches across my body. Surely enough, I was in what looked like a crash. I could see snapped branches above me, and around me was a mixture of twigs, fiber and what looked like wooden poles. _A hang glider_ I thought. _Wait, what's a hang glider?_ I searched my memory, excited to see I could remember something, anything, and discovered I knew the basics of a hang glider.

"A hang glider is a design that uses a light frame and cloth material to catch air below it to slow falling while keeping forward momentum by using a V shape." I looked further into my mind, but found nothing; at least I knew how I had gotten here. I landed in a lucky spot, too. I had soft grass under me while a few feet away was a giant rock that could've broken a bone or snapped my neck. At least it seemed giant; it was probably only some inches across.

"Well, I suppose I should get busy now. It looks like nightfall is in a few hours." I said as I stood up and started to rummage through the wreckage, looking for anything useful.

 **That's it for chapter one. If you want to see more, please review and more specifically tell me why you do/don't like my writing. Should I stick to 1st person point of view or switch to 3rd for the rest of the story? I seriously hope to improve; I've never written a story before, and I'd rather get feedback before submitting more chapters. Chapters should come in waves; especially expect them on weekends. Thank you for reading, and hope you have a smurfy day.**


	2. A hope that cannot die

**Alright, I'm back! This chapter is considerably longer than the first one (first one was more of a starter, a hope that I could receive a little aid for my writing). I decided I might as well shut up and keep writing; it can always be improved later, without changing the main plot I had planned. I have also decided that after a few more chapters, this will almost certainly shift to 3rd person pov. Anyhow, the Smurfs belong to Peyo, all other characters belong to me, enjoy!**

A few hours later, I had a nice shelter, fire, and even a little dinner. Twigs combined with the material the hang glider was made of and some rope allowed me to create a makeshift backpack in the shape of a pyramid. It was also useful for bedding and a crude shelter, open on one end to let a fire's heat in.

I had found a pair of glasses in the mess; they weren't broken, and besides make my vision much more clear, I had been able to use my glasses to focus sunlight on some paper from an empty journal I had found in the crash as well. I had also found a pencil; seems I'm set to start writing!/span/p

There was a bush filled with these delicious red berries I had picked just a few feet away from the crash site. I had picked it clean; a few berries going in my belly, the rest in my backpack. I was going to need all the food I could get to survive; and that meant taking risks. The berries could've been poisonous; so I only ate a few. But even then it was still dangerous.

As night fell, I wondered what the world would be like. "Is it peaceful and calm, with plenty of innocent creatures?" I pondered. "Or filled with dangerous situations at every turn, leaving great adventures to be had?" As the crickets chirped, I began flipping through the pages of the journal I had found, looking for any previous writing, any clues, that might help me find out who I am. Seeing nothing, I tucked away the journal; maybe I'll write in it later. I closed my eyes, and fell asleep after an exhausting day.

I woke up to the singing of songbirds early in the morning. "Hmm, I wonder what I'll do today" I said joyfully. Then I noted my sore throat; I need to look for fresh water. Without water, I'd die either tomorrow or the day after from dehydration, making it of great importance. I realized, then, I had nothing to boil it with; I'd just have to hope to find some way around this problem.

A week passed, then two. I found that survival wasn't too hard; I used my bedding to filter and hold rainwater, and I had replaced my bed with some leaves as big as I was. There were more of those red berries in the forest; I found they tasted even better after being roasted by the campfire. I have created a simple spear and hatchet which have made survival much easier.

I still wonder how I know to do all this. I shouldn't have the slightest clue of how to survive in the wild, without any memories; but my knowledge from before must've passed through! "I thought to myself. Without that knowledge, I probably wouldn't have survived long.

"Say, I can't wait to be able to sleep in a comfortable bed again; leaves don't make good bedding!" That statement then hit me with great force reminding me of why I am staying here; I hope that somebody will rescue me. I then realized that if somebody were looking for me, they would've probably found me in the first few days; chances are nobody was coming. Despair began to claw at my heart; but I couldn't give up hope. "I'll wait for a few more days, then I have to move" I concluded.

The songbirds sang again for the third morning, and nobody had shown up. I felt dread as I began to pack my things, all that I own, but loneliness and curiosity overpowered it. I had no idea if there were other creatures that looked like me, but I decided there almost certainly was. _No guarantee I'll find them if they do exist_ , I thought to myself. No, I couldn't think like that; I had to keep hope that I wasn't alone in this world. As I looked at my now empty camp, the remainder of the crash, the nearby trees and bushes, I felt anguish in my heart as I exchanged the safety of the only home I knew for an unknown future

 **Alright, that's it. Chapters will be short, but in great numbers. I'll just say it again: Feedback and criticism through reviews is greatly appreciated, because I want to write better and feel that I am probably not doing a great job right now, considering the competition. If you have any ideas you'd like to lend me, I will consider them and they may become a reality in my story. I have the general idea for the story planned, but of course additions/changes are very possible.**


	3. The start of a long adventure

**Before I begin, this time I would like to mention that I posted chapter 2, then it glitched for some reason later (you may or may not have seen that). Anyhow, I have a temporary fix that should work. Also, a few minor changes were made in chapter 2 as of 10/1/17, but these changed a few words like "sadness" for words like "anguish" and "desolation" to list half the change. The smurfs belong to Peyo, and all other others I came up with.**

I adjusted my glasses on my face as I trekked on, looking at the landscape around me. It was beautiful; full of colorful birds, flowers, butterflies… It looked like there could be no evil here, in this peaceful place. With a renewed pride in my step, I keep going.

A few days passed, and I felt the sense of loneliness that had started to develop fade a little, filled in by a sense of adventure. I had moved on upward, to some hills. The trees had started to thin out, leaving a few more bushes and grasses among the cliffs. A few caves littered the hills, but I dared not explore them. _There's almost certainly nothing in there but trouble_ I thought to myself.

Strangely enough, I found what appeared to be a dirt road among the hills, for people about my size. "I've struck civilization! It can't be far away now" I told myself in excitement. As night fell, it started to rain, and the downpour started to become serious. Fearing the worst, I found a cave fairly high up on the mountain and decided to settle there for the night, as I'd catch a cold staying outside.

Taking some flint I had found along a creek yesterday, I started a campfire, laid out my bedding and the rest of my supplies, and decided that it'd be a good idea to make sure nothing else lurked in the back of the cave. Taking my spear and a brand straight out of the fire as a torch, I set out.

As I went deeper into the cave, I felt my heart start to beat faster. It kept extending further and further down in a long tunnel; it seemed nearly endless. Anything could've been out there, hiding among the few stalactites and stalagmites that littered the walls; I had learned fairly quickly that virtually all life, save some insects and a few other things, were bigger than I was. Although this made running and hiding easier, fighting became much harder and dangerous against even rats.

When I reached the bottom where it leveled out, I came across a nasty surprise; there was a massive spider web blocking the entire entrance. "Oh god, spiders. Why does it have to be spiders?" As I was about to hightail out of there and look for a new cave, I thought I heard muffled noise.

With all of my courage, I slashed open the spider web guarding the entrance, and pushed on. If anybody was alive down here, I had to rescue them; I couldn't just leave them here to die. I moved quickly; the tunnel emptied out into a large chamber, filled with spider webs everywhere, stretching across a massive array of stalactites and stalagmites. I heard a dripping somewhere, the only noise in this cavern besides my footsteps and my pounding heart.

That's when I noticed the cocoon shape on one of said spider webs. And how it was squirming a little. And all of the fellow cocoon shapes on nearby webs, in different shapes and sizes. "Hey, is anyone out there" a hoarse voice called. "Please, we've been stuck here for days, and we will soon become a meal for the spiders!"

Although the fact that the mystery person said "spiders" instead of "spider" freaked me out even more, I couldn't be a coward. Climbing up a stalagmite supporting the web, I barely managed to open the cocoon with the tip of my sharpened spear. And out fell a green troll, just about as tall as I was. He had a long black beard, stringy black hair, and emerald green eyes. He laid exhausted, looking up at me with wonder.

"H-hello?" I stuttered. I was dumbfounded that I was meeting the first sentient being in weeks!

"Please, let's get out of here first before we chat. The spiders will be back in any second."

"Sorry, buddy, but first I want to check on a few of the others." I replied as I climbed down and opened another cocoon on a web near the ground, revealing a small, tiny, adorable baby mouse.

I immediately checked the mouse's pulse, to find that he/she had one. Realizing they were unconscious, I began to work on the others. First I found a dead beetle (gross), then an unconscious hummingbird (don't ask me how it managed to get stuck in a cave), and after that cocoon, I found an even bigger one which spilled out a mouse, a little bigger than me. Said mouse looked around, with beady, black eyes, then up to me.

"Thank you so much, but please, have you seen any children?" The mouse hurriedly gibbered in a feminine, high pitched voice.

"Sure, I found a baby mouse over there. They still had a strong pulse, but are unconscious." I responded without much emotion.

"Oh my gosh thank you thank you thank you!" The mouse said again in that rushed voice. She then moved over to the baby I found.

"Please try to grab some others. The exit is that way; just lay them by the campfire. If we stick together, we should have a much better shot of not being eaten."

"Okay, okay, makes sense, will do!" she said again before moving off to some of the others I had found.

"Hey you! Over here! I need help!" I heard an especially annoyed voice say. It sounded completely healthy, so I guessed this guest hadn't stayed here very long.

"Hello friend! I said as I rushed over. I noticed his cocoon was twice my height. "Come on, after I free you, try to save a few others, then we have to hightail outta here. And please don't eat me" I begged as I cut him loose, causing him, like all the others, to fall to the ground. Then I got a good luck at the fellow . He appeared to be some sort of otter, with whiskers and with brown eyes. He looked back at me with complete confusion, as if what I was doing was completely unnatural.

"Why are you helping me?" The otter said to me in his confused state.

"Because if I didn't risk my life to come down here to save you and some of the others, you'd all almost certainly be killed. And to be frank, that's cowardly and wrong. I can't just leave you here to die" I replied with a determination in my voice. "Now, come on, let's save as many people as possible before-"

"The spiders are coming, the spiders are coming!" I heard a familiar squeaky voice say.

"Come on! I cut a few of the others loose! Let's grab them and go!" I shouted with desperation in my voice.

"But what about the other victims?" The strange otter said./span/p

"Well, we'll come back for them later, but for now, we gotta go or we'll never get the chance to save them!" I replied while looking around for any signs of danger.

"Alright, let's-" the otter was cut off by the spider, just as big as him, that fell flat on top of him. Without thinking, I jabbed the spider with my spear into the side of it's abdomen, and it hissed and retreated, letting my new friend go. I helped the otter up and started running, away from the danger, and then remembered something.

"Wait! I cut a hummingbird and a troll loose, but they can't make it on their own! We should go after them!" I said while taking a sharp right turn, straight into a spider web. I broke through, taking the web with me, and tossed and turned only to get myself more stuck.

"Jeez, you really need to watch where you're going pal" the otter said sharply. From there, he grabbed me, and I directed him where to go while I was still wrapped up. The hummingbird wasn't there anymore; hopefully the mouse had grabbed him/her.

However, the troll was, and when the troll noticed us he begged us to "not leave him here." The otter grabbed him without a word, took us up the slope, and back to the entrance where I had put my gear.

I noticed that the mouse had stayed; thankfully, she had both the baby (which I presumed by the way she held him/her was her child) and the hummingbird. I also noticed a few other cocoons the mouse had brought back.

"I was able to get every last one, every last one" She said. "All the others were dead… had to be. I could tell by the smell" she put her tiny paws by her nose.

"Thank you so much" I said. I looked outside; it was still pouring down rain, but we had to move soon. The spiders almost certainly would follow us sooner or later, but I doubted that they'd stay outside for long.

"Well" the otter said with an emphasis in his voice. "I guess we should do introductions now, huh? We're right by a campfire. Why don't you start with telling us your name?" He asked while staring at me.

"Alright, um..." I said nervously, while he sized me up. The way he was looking at me made me really uncomfortable, but I decided I wouldn't let myself become dinner, if that was what he wanted; hopefully the others would wake up before anything… unnecessary happened, and then we could triumph by numbers if he ever tried any funny business.

"Well, I don't know."

"What?" the others said confused.

 **And that's that. I hope this chapter had enough action. Seeing how many more characters are being added, I think the next chapter will be in 3rd person pov, as will the rest of the story and possible sequels. This will occur unless anybody can give a good argument for keeping this is in 1st person pov. I want to give a good story, and, to be frank, I'm just improvising right now.**


	4. Danger at every turn

**Chapter 4 is here! And I've after some consideration to change the pov, I've decided the further I wait the more dramatic the change will appear, so the story is in 3rd person point of view! Also, on a side note, I might use a few Smurf characters from Frostforge44's Smurf stories like Sweepy and Wooly as side characters, but I want most if not all of the main characters to be original (btw, where are the last chapters to your last story on the smurfs Frostforge44? A lot of people were disappointed). Anyhow, all characters in the text below belong to me, the Smurfs belong to Peyo, have fun reading!**

 ***Just another reminder in case somebody doesn't read the text above the story will become 3rd person for chapter 4+***

"I know, I know, sounds weird, but I can explain" the unnamed Smurf hurriedly said.

"A couple weeks ago, I woke up in a hang glider crash, without any memories of who I was. I couldn't even smurf my name!"

"What's a hang glider?" the mouse squeaked.

"And what does 'Smurf' mean?" the troll asked in a slightly better but still hoarse voice.

A nearby cocoon gave a muffled question; maybe they could hear him, maybe they were wondering what was happening and if they were free.

"So you're being completely serious right now?" The otter questioned in his gruff voice.

"I'll get to questions later. Um… okay. As I was saying, I couldn't remember a thing. I decided it was a safe bet to stay there a while, but nobody showed up. So a few days ago I left to look for civilization, and possibly more creatures like me. I made camp in this cave, and went to check the back to make sure nothing smurfed me in my sleep. That's when I found the spider den." The smurf explained while everyone listened. Unnoticed by anyone, the otter was listening with a raised eyebrow.

"As for what a hang glider is, I can show a basic sketch. It basically functions as kind of like a wing's birds, but stuck in a gliding position. And as for what 'smurf' means, it is a very complex word. It is nearly impossible to explain. Also, I have no idea where I smurfed it- I mean, learned it." The smurf finished, with a sigh. "And to be honest, it's really strange. I mean, I shouldn't know it, at all, but somehow I still know certain things like that."

The smurf let the weight of the story he told sit in with the others; he knew it was a lot to take in.

"So you don't remember anything at all except tidbits of random information and words in strange tongues? " The troll inquired.

"Yup, it's just like that. Except I only know the word 'smurf.'" The smurf then looked down, deep in thought. "Hey, wait a second! 'smurf' is also a word for a small, blue creature that lives in the forest!" The smurf declared while pacing back and forth.

I think I must be a smurf if I can smurf what the word 'smurf' smurfs!" the strange smurf exclaimed while still pacing rapidly, while the others had about no clue what the last half of what he just said meant.

"So, because of that, I suppose you all can call me 'Mystery Smurf.' I mean, it's only temporary until we find a smurfier name." Mystery Smurf stated matter-of-factly.

"Okay, Mystery Smurf, can we call you 'Mystery' instead for short? I am already getting a headache from hearing that word, 'smurf.' By the way, my name's Sevaxian." the otter said, with a friendly tone for the last statement.

"I'm Beth and this is Oscar" the mouse chittered.

"And I'm Leeroy Jenkins the 3rd" the troll said in a mostly intact semi-high pitched voice.

"Great to know you all. Anyhow, let's free the others. Then we can decide what to do moving forwards." Mystery said.

 _From there, the party freed the others. Of the survivors were also Timothy the toad, Carcara the fairy, Benjamin the bat, Tracie the hummingbird, and Wilson the rock. Literally, there was a rock with a face painted on it and the name "Wilson" on the bottom in a cocoon. Strange. As a good luck charm, Ben took it with him. In the end, the group split in pieces. Beth took her child back to their family who lived only a few miles away, Carcara was on a mission to save her sister from some goblins who were demanding an unpayable ransom, Tracie just didn't feel like going, and Timothy went back to his swamp. However, Sevaxian said he 'didn't have much better to do than help Mystery', Leeroy had been looking for treasure but found spiders by where "x marks the spot" instead, and Ben was scared to be alone without a colony, so they tagged along with Mystery. And so Mystery, Sevaxian, Leeroy, and Ben set out on the quest to find smurfs._

 ***A couple days later (The dirt road Mystery had found led them to a mountain pass)***

"I'm telling you, Mystery, that hang glider of yours won't fly!" Ben shouted.

"Why not? A hang glider is aerodynamic, like your wings." Mystery plainly stated.

"Because no simple wooden design like that can compare to a bat's wings, as I said earlier. And to think that a simple creature like yourself can easily fly with something like that is ridiculous." Ben snapped.

"Can you two just shut up? A little peace and quiet would be nice!" Sevaxian cried.

"Yes, quiet, we are roughly on a course to more treasure! The old map's coordinates were only a little… off is all. And when we find that treasure all of us will become rich! Richer than a king!" Leeroy shrieked.

"Hey can I take a look at that map?" Mystery asked

"Well, I don't see the harm in it. Go ahead."

"Thanks." Mystery said as he snatched the map.

 ***A few minutes of walking in silence later***

"Actually, Leeroy, the treasure would be back here, not there." Mystery remarked.

"I swear Mystery… Ben isn't the only one sick of a certain know-it-all in the group." Leeroy hissed.

Mystery rolled his eyes. He knew Leeroy's frustrations, but he believed the corrections he was making were actually useful, like how he taught Leeroy how to properly make a basic stone-tipped spear, when Leeroy couldn't do it himself, or give Ben a tiny lecture on aerodynamics when Ben doubted him, to prove his point that a hang glider will, in fact, fly. He held his tongue when he felt it wasn't necessary, and tried not to babble.

"Wait a second, if Mystery's calculations are right, we need to backtrack! The treasure is back there!" Leeroy screamed.

"Fine… some money for supplies might come in handy." Mystery sighed.

"No way, we started this way and will keep going this way, and that's final!" Sevaxian bellowed. "I am sick and tired of all your petty arguments. We're running out of food because we can't just make simple ground!" Sexavian roared.

"Well, maybe I'll leave, then. More gold for me." Leeroy announced.

"What do you think Ben? We should do majority rules." Mystery quickly suggested. He had to keep the group together; they needed to watch eachother's backs.

"I think another cave is a great place to look for a new colony. I'm in." Ben chimed.

"Then it's settled. Sorry, Sevaxian, but the group has spoken."

Sevaxian groaned. This 'team' thing was a lot harder than he had anticipated. "Please listen to me. If we backtrack yet again, like we did when Ben lost Wilson, we'll run out of food on the return trip. Then-"

" _Howwwwwl!" A wolf with snow-white fur appeared on a cliffside to their back right about half a mile away. Because of the drop off to their left, they are in grave danger._

"Who is that? Are they here to steal my treasure?" Leeroy suspiciously asked

"I have no idea, but I have the feeling we should probably run! According to the map, the path will continue straight!" Mystery exclaimed.

"But the treasure-"

"I'd rather keep my life over some treasure! Come on Leeroy!" Mystery warned.

Leeroy sighed and followed the others. Even a troll as foolish as himself was wise enough to realize the smurf was right; wolves are always hungry.

"Huff, huff, huff" Ben panted as he strained to hold on to Wilson.

"Ben, drop that stupid rock of yours, or we're gonna end up leaving you behind!" Sevaxian warned.

"Fine, fine!" Ben dropped the rock; it just so happened to land directly on Leeroy's foot.

"Youch! My foot!" Leeroy screamed as he fell to the ground, his foot trapped by Wilson, who was nearly as big as him. Luckily for him, Sevaxian managed to come back and throw the rock away and grab Sevaxian, barely losing time.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! I can run on my own!" Leeroy said, wincing and limping a little

"I see them! They're gaining on us fast!" Ben shouted from above.

Looking ahead, the group saw an old wooden bridge held together by rope over a river churning about seventy-five feet below; Unfortunately, the bridge-makers had accommodated the bridge to be big enough for even a wolf to run across. "This shouldn't be here! Leeroy, where on earth did you get that map? It's smurfing terrible!"

"I got it from a gnome cartographer, 50% off. But it's not terrible, I'd say! I made a good bargain with that fellow!" Leeroy shouted back.

"Is this really the time to talk about a map?!" Ben screeched.

The group knew the obvious thing to do: get to the other side, cut the rope on the other side, and destroy the bridge so the wolves couldn't get across.

However, just as they were about to reach the other side, the wolves reached the bridge; and using their claws, they cut the rope, lurching the bridge to the side. Leaping at the last possible second, Sevaxian made his way to safety, while Leeroy and Mystery managed to hold on to the other side of the bridge.

"We're gonna die, we're gonna die!" Leeroy screamed just as the wolves cut the other side, causing Leeroy and Mystery's bridge to careen towards the cliffside.

"Woah!" Mystery yelled as they were about to make impact. 3… 2… lurch!

"Aaaaaaaaah!" Leeroy continued to scream like a little girl, as Ben held their side of the bridge up, flapping furiously.

"We're not gonna die, we're not gonna die!" Leeroy screamed in excitement. "Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Ben! I never doubted you!"

"Yes, amazing job Ben! You saved our liv-" Mystery began to say as the board he was holding onto snapped off, causing him to fall.

"Mystery!" Sevaxian shouted from above, as he watched Mystery plummet down into the river, and be swept away by the currents.

As Mystery fell, he felt remorse; he never got to finish his goal to find other smurfs. And to top it off, the only people he ever met in this crazy world he pissed off and annoyed; he died while arguing with them. They wouldn't mourn him for long; he'd be a tiny fraction of their memories. He'd be nothing. A blink in history.

Then Mystery hit the rapids.

 **And that's chapter 4; I know, it's been a while. I had a four day weekend from my school, so chapters 1-3 were easily completed in that time. Expect chapters to be about this long, and to come about twice a week. And also expect chapter 5 to really begin to put things together! This is just the beginning of a series that could possibly be** **really** **long, with sequels. And, don't forget to have a smurfy day!**


	5. One Very Lucky Smurf

**As here comes the much anticipated (not really) chapter 5! Full with a "twist" that I'm sure almost everyone saw coming. Yeah… In other news, I guess I'll start doing reviews in the text below, so every chapter more reviews that I didn't cover in previous chapters will be written down below (ask for me to not do this if for some reason you care about your review, along with your username, being pulled out like the guest). So here's the reviews so far:**

 **guest** **chapter 1 . Oct 1**

 **I am really curious to see What's next?**

 **So yeah… actually made me feel really good. This is the first time I've ever done anything online for other people to view (as in, ever), and I didn't realize how much comments/reviews actually meant to the creator until now. It's amazing! Thank you guest! Anyways, disclaimer: the smurfs belong to Peyo, but all other characters belong to me. So without further ado, here is chapter 5.**

"Mystery!"

As Mystery plunged into the ice cold water, he was surprised. He hadn't broken any bones on impact. Seeing a boulder coming up, he put his arms in front of his face to protect his head.

 _This is going to smurf some_ Mystery thought right before as he hit the boulder at full force. "Aaiieeee!" he screamed, while spinning over and over and struggling for air. That's when he hit his head on the next boulder.

Ben scanned the river the moment that Leeroy was safe; but there was no sign of Mystery. Without anything to go by, he had no choice but to go back up and deliver the bad news.

The reason Ben never found him was because Mystery's limp body continued and found it's way down a narrow channel breaking off from the river, with a much slower current. Then a miracle happened while Mystery was right on the verge of death.

"Mommy! There's a strange blue creature floating on the river! I think they're unconscious! They need our help!" A mousling said in a very concerned voice.

"Blue creature? Honey, can you please show me?" Beth said in a calm voice, trying to rock Oscar to sleep.

"Didn't you hear me? Unconscious! As in, we need to get them out right now!" The mousling chittered frustrated. She was worried for the soon-to-be-guest's life.

"Oh no! Sorry, I'm coming, I'm coming!" Beth replied, not wasting any time. She had been too focused on putting Oscar to sleep to even listen to her daughter. In the meantime, Oscar started to cry because his mommy left him; but Beth was focused solely on saving the stranger's life.

"There! He's right there!" The mousling pointed to Mystery in the water; he was starting to float away.

Beth jumped into the water; although she could swim, she was still trying to teach her daughter. When she got to the body, she was shocked; it was Mystery! She quickly grabbed him and got out, bringing Mystery with him.

Wasting no time, she checked his pulse. Nothing. Quickly, she started beating on Mystery's chest. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. ."

"Bleugh!" Mystery coughed while getting the water out of his body. He felt extremely sore all over his body. While he laid there coughing up water, Mystery's hat fell off, revealing his small plume of dark brown hair.

"Mystery? What're you doing here? Are you okay?" Beth asked in what Mystery noticed as a much slower, curious voice.

"We… traveling… wolves chasing… bridge… fell… into…. the river. I… think… I'm gonna… be okay." Mystery hoarsely whispered. He needed to catch his breath before he could talk more.

Beth decided to let Mystery rest for a few minutes; the poor thing had barely escaped death.

"Think you can walk now?" Beth asked.

"I can try." Mystery replied as he tried to get up. He noted the pains in his body, but ignored them. He could walk, alright, but in a limp. His ankle hurt badly; it must be sprained.

"You don't look very good. Want my mommy to carry you?" The mousling asked, concerned for Mystery.

"I'm fine." Mystery restated as he stumbled to a pile of leaves, which he lied down in; it was so much more comfortable here. Then he immediately fell asleep, exhausted with what just happened.

"Honey, remember that blue fellow I was talking about? The one that saved me and Oscar? The one you really wanted to meet?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, Judith, that's him."

"Really?" Judith looked up at her mother, wide-eyed.

"Yes sweetie. I'll let you talk to him as soon as he wakes up. For now, we should bring him inside so he can rest."

"Okay Mommy."

In the meantime, Mystery opened his eyes to find himself in a strange new forest. "Huh? Where am I?" He noticed that all feelings of pain he had held were gone; he was able to get around fine.

Looking around, he saw a castle in the distance, with the trees cleared out around it. He felt entranced to it; like he was meant to go there. Seeing nobody around, he started walking towards it, watching the surrounding area.

He saw fiery light coming up from around the castle; it appeared like there was some sort of moat. The trees started to thin out, and Mystery saw around the edges of the clearing the ground had been deliberately burned, leaving charred trees around to reinforce the gloomy atmosphere the castle held.

Heart pounding, curiosity overpowered the fears that Mystery held. _Surely I'd be able to sneak in without anybody seeing me. The people here must be giants!_ Mystery thought as he neared the castle.

Walking across the drawbridge, Mystery looked down. He had been right about the castle having a moat; except the moat was dug about ten stories down and had lava in it. Then he noticed the lava was bubbling in a spot. Investigating, Mystery put got on his knees and put his hands on the edge of the drawbridge to get a closer look. This was followed by the scaly creature that drew it's head out of the lava, surprising Mystery.

"Argh!" caught off guard by the new foe, Mystery stumbled back and fell, only to be greeted by the dragon himself as he stuck his neck above Mystery. Mystery saw the fire beginning to form in the dragon's mouth, then-

Mystery immediately sprang up, still in shock at what he saw. This time, looking around, he was in some sort of room; the walls were of unpolished stone, and a single doorway led to a hallway. He was also sleeping in a nest of dried grass and twigs. It was only then that the pain Mystery was feeling from his injuries registered in his brain.

"Youch! That smurfs some." He said to himself as he laid back down, trying to reduce his agony. What he had seen was only a dream; but it had felt so real.

Beth, hearing noise, came back and poked her head in to find Mystery awake. "You know, you lied down right in the middle of our pile of sarsaparilla leaves, which we were going to eat tonight. But now my children refuse to eat them, saying 'that it's not sanitary.'"

"Oh… sorry about that." Mystery sheepishly replied. "I don't know what was smurfing through my head at the time. I should've just let you carry me."

"It's fine Mystery; just please don't take a nap in our food again. What I need to ask you is how you wound up in the river. And what happened to the others who were going along with you." Beth questioned as she walked into the room.

"Oh, okay." Mystery paused for second, before speaking again. "We were going through our 4th day travelling, and nothing had gone wrong. That's when we spotted wolves following us from behind. On our escape, we went over a bridge, only the board under me broke, causing me to fall into the river below."

"My my, looks like you might be here a while then. That river is very powerful; you must be pretty banged up. Alright, I'll gather some herbs to help deal with that tomorrow. You are one lucky smurf you know." Beth stopped. "Not only did you survive a drop into the rapids, but you're in the home of a pierrelician."

The word sounded unfamiliar to Mystery. "What's a pierrelician? Is it another word for a healer or doctor?" He asked.

"Well, a pierrelician is a fancy word for a smart animal, like myself and my family." Beth replied. "I hope you do realize that most animals aren't very intelligent."

"Oh. So anyways, what's for dinner? Because I'm starv-"

"He's awake? Mommy, you said you would tell me when he was awake!" A very annoyed Judith remarked as she stormed into the room.

"Don't worry sweetie, I was, but first I wanted to talk to Mystery myself. I need to find out how to make him feel better." Beth said in her calm voice. Getting closer to Mystery, she whispered, "Is it okay that my daughter will speak to you awhile?"

"Of course it's fine" Mystery replied, seeing no harm. Beth had saved his life, and was going to invest her time in helping Mystery heal; this was the least he could do. Besides that, he didn't want to turn the little mousling down. She was just adorable.

"Thanks. Leftover sarsaparilla stew is for dinner." Beth said with a smirk. "And you're gonna be eating it for the next week." Beth said as she left the room.

Mystery sighed; he was gonna regret sleeping in that sarsaparilla.

"So, mister, you can't remember who you are?" The mousling asked Mystery.

"Uh, no, I cannot remember much of who I was. I assume that your mother has told you a lot about me?"

"Yeah. By the way, my name is Judith. You know, she is very thankful that you saved Oscar."

"Well, I was just doing my part. Your mother probably would do the same thing for me if she had been in my shoes." Mystery humbly stated.

"What are shoes?" The mouse innocently asked.

"Shoes are things people wear on their feet. But, uh, the expression is supposed to mean that she would do the same thing for me if she were in the situation I was in."

"Then why didn't you just say that instead?"

"Um, I don't know" Mystery replied

"You're weird" Judith blurted out.

Just as Mystery was about to try to change the topic, he heard Beth from the hallway. "Judith, want to help me bake some dessert for our guest? I'll let you decide what we create."

"Alright, mister, I am going to make you the best blueberry muffins you've ever tasted. Just you wait." Judith proudly boasted before scampering off.

Mystery smiled. Having to recover in bed didn't seem too bad now. Even if he was going to be here a while, at least he'd have some company. And blueberry muffins.

 **And chapter 5 is finished! I believe it is important that you all know that Wednesday after I post this chapter I will combine chapters 1 and 2, which will make it appear that I have one less chapter than before, which might confuse people. So if you see my story has 4 chapters after changes are made don't freak out. The first chapters are less than half the length of chapters 4 and 5, so I see no harm in combining them.**

 **I can almost guarantee I'll heavily edit and rewrite chapters 1-2 later, and possibly chapter 3 too. I'm doing this because they are much shorter and give a bad impression on the story. The 1st chapter is basically the only one people read before deciding they want/don't want to read my story, and it had much less effort put into it besides also being in a completely different pov. I will wait a few more chapters for more dramatic changes to the beginning of my story, but this is just an fyi for later (and if you are confused, you can send question in a review to which I will respond to).**

 **Finally** **, I am considering instead of chapters being about 2,000 words each for them to be 3,000-4,000, which will make wait times for future chapters possibly even longer (as in possibly get one 3,500 word chapter every week for). This is because I feel I may not be spending enough time on character developments and the like. Anyways, that wraps things up for today, hope you have a smurfy day!**


	6. Unsmurfy news

I have some news that may be very disappointing to some people: I've decided that I will discontinue this story. This is because I feel I should work on smaller projects before going all out (still gonna do multi-chapter stories though).

I will probably eventually come back to Mystery; I really did have a lot of smurfy ideas for him. However, if this happens all the work I've already done in chapters 1-5 will be rewritten and the story will come in a full package (Probably give a chapter a day or something, just to extend the stories life).

For now, I am will be working on another story; one I hope to theme around Halloween. I don't think it'll have any oc's, but I still haven't worked out all the details (main character of story won't be oc). I've decided the deadline should, obviously, be around halloween; and the story must be extra spoopy (not actually gonna be horror).

The main problem I have with "It's a Harsh World out There" is that I literally have no written outline done. So I have been typing 2,000 word chapters spontaneously, which won't make for a good long-term story, besides being a bit stressful to type with other things going on (I have been feeling a bit ill the past few days but it is mostly gone now). I need to get this work done beforehand to truly be content with it.

In the end, I feel that I want The 'Mystery' series to be my crown jewel; and so I don't want to ruin what I feel could be a really good plot with stupid mistakes like forgetting to mention Mystery has hair, or something or other important in future chapters.

So while I get adapted to basic writing strategies (cough cough* point of view), hope in the next couple weeks you enjoy the spoopy story I have brewing up.


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